Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) will set up dams to contain oil spills in a bid to avert tragic incidents that have in the past cost the firm billions of shillings in compensation.
The firm, last month, invited firms to bid for the project to establish the facilities at the pump stations located in Kipevu, Manyani, Makindu and Ngema. The cost remains undisclosed.
Spill containment dams are barriers that hold back oil spills on land or next to water bodies. In water, they act as temporary floating barriers that contain oil spills on the surface of the water to enable cleaning up of the spill.
The State-owned firm was recently ordered to pay Sh2.11 billion to residents of the Thange River basin in Makueni County who were affected by an oil spill that occurred in 2015. KPC was given 120 days from the date of the ruling on July 11, to settle the compensation bill.
The spillage which occurred on May 12, 2015 was attributed to a suspected leak along KPC’s Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline. It remains the only such incident that KPC has faced since its inception.
The court found KPC guilty of lacking robust measures such as the dams to prevent and mitigate oil spills, thus violating the residents’ right to a clean and healthy environment.
KPC has outlined the construction of the dams as key projects in the current finance year, which ends in June 2026, in efforts to mitigate against the devastating financial and environmental impact of oil spills.
“Key ongoing investments; construction of oil spill containment dams, construction of tanks and inter-tank flowrate enhancement in Western Kenya depots,” KPC says in a separate document defending higher tariffs to boost revenues and boost the funding pool for the projects.
KPC is awaiting a decision from the energy regulator regarding the new tariffs for the storage and transport of fuel in the current financial year. These tariffs are crucial to raising the billions of shillings that KPC needs to, among others, set up the oil spill dams.
The company invited interested companies up to submit their bids by November 12.
Spill containment dams are a standard feature of oil spill response protocols in most oil- and gas-producing economies.
The dams prevent oil from flowing into rivers and lakes and contaminating water supply. They also protect against soil damage and the destruction of food production and natural habitats.
The financial costs of a major oil spill can be enormous, particularly the cost of compensating those affected or addressing environmental damage, which highlights why KPC is keen to set up the dams to contain oil spills.
KPC handles billions of litres of fuel every year for both the local and regional markets of Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
